RWC Partners is gearing up to launch an UCITS III pan-European long/short equity fund next month.

The new vehicle, the RWC Europe Absolute Alpha Fund, will be managed by Ajay Gambhir. Gambhir, who started managing European long/short funds in 2003, joined RWC Partners from JPMorgan Asset Management in 2007 and launched his Cayman-domiciled Europe hedge fund in September. Since inception in 2003, Gambhir's investment strategy has produced annualized returns of more than 13.1% against the MSCI Europe equity index having annualized returns of 3.7% over the same period. The strategy has achieved this with volatility of only 7.9%, less than half that of the index (16%).

At JPMorgan Asset Management Gambhir was responsible for $6 billion of assets in the high alpha European Dynamic funds, having managed the UK Dynamic, Europe Dynamic and Europe Dynamic Long Short funds from their inceptions.

“UCITS III absolute return funds are generating a huge amount of investor interest but most of them don’t yet have long track records," said Peter Harrison, CEO, RWC Partners. "Ajay has been managing long/short equity funds for seven years, and through protracted bull and bear phases his approach has shone out. He is one of the few fund managers in the European long/short space that has a proven track record, so investors will know what they can expect from our new fund."

The RWC Europe Absolute Alpha fund is just the latest in a string of new offerings announced by the firm. Additionally, Nick Purves and Ian Lance will join the company in August from Schroders to launch a range of income funds.

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